


Mitch might be an Idiot: Christmas Fic 1

by 3YearsOfPaperShades



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 14:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12937719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3YearsOfPaperShades/pseuds/3YearsOfPaperShades
Summary: Auston cut him off, “How is you showing up without a date any less awkward than me showing up and pretending to be your date?”Mitch pouted, “It just is. Trust me.”++Alternatively, Mitch needs a date to a Christmas party and decides Auston should be the one to go with him. Auston's not so sure.





	Mitch might be an Idiot: Christmas Fic 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out super fluffy, but then it ran away from me and turned a bit angsty. But no worries, it gets back to being fluff by the end. 
> 
>  
> 
> Obvious disclaimer: This is a work of fiction an is not based on real life events. Also if you know/are someone mentioned in this please do yourself a favor and leave.
> 
>  
> 
> [my tumblr](https://leafsforthewin.tumblr.com)

This was not a situation Mitch usually found himself in.

Seriously.

It wasn’t.

Though somehow convincing Auston of that was proving difficult.

“Matts, come on. It would just be one night.” Mitch whined. “I’ll never make you do it again. I promise.”

Auston glared at him. “No. I said no and I meant it. It’s a ridiculous idea.”

“But it’ll be so awkward to show up without a date, you know that. And she—"

Auston cut him off, “How is _you_ showing up without a date any less awkward than _me_ showing up and pretending to be your date?”

Mitch pouted, “It just is. Trust me.”

Auston rolled his eyes for what felt like the twelfth time during this conversation and began walking back toward the kitchen. “No Marns. I’m not going. Ask someone else.”

“Auuuston” Mitch groaned getting up from the couch to follow him.

When Auston started pulling eggs out of the fridge and made no move to pay attention to him Mitch continued, “Who else am I going to ask then? Huh? If you can come up with someone else I’ll just go with them.”

Auston sighed loudly and set the pan he had just pulled out onto the counter. “Ask literally any other person. I’m sure they’d love for you to come barging in at 8am.” Auston paused, Mitch was sure it was just to be dramatic, before continuing, “Oh wait. Actually they wouldn't like that. No one would.” He glared at Mitch annoyed.

Mitch huffed. “Well I wouldn’t have come over if it wasn't an emergency.”

“Mitch this is not an emergency.” Auston said exasperated. “An emergency is your house burning down or you breaking your leg. Your ex-girlfriend’s friend, who I’ll remind you is you friend too, inviting you to a Christmas Party is not an emergency.”

“Yes it is!” Mitch argued. “It’s a huge, gigantic, enormous, emergency! And I came over because I needed help.”

Auston glared at him. He seemed to be doing a lot of that this morning. Mitch figured it probably wasn't his best idea to obsessively ring the doorbell at 7:45am on their first off day in a while.

It was too late now though, so he plunged on. “Look, I’m not asking you to be my actual date—“

“You better not be”

“—I’m just asking if you'll pretend to be. For one night. For your friend. Who is having an emergency.”

Auston looked unimpressed. Which, hey, rude, Mitch was very impressive, but he didn’t look any closer to saying yes either. In fact, Mitch observed, he was looking a little confused.

“I don’t get why you need me to do it. It can't be that hard for you to find a someone willing to go on a date with you. If it’s so difficult you can always pull the I'm _Mitch Marner Hockey God_ card.”

“Is that what you do?” Mitch teased, continuing a deep voice, “Hi, I’m Auston Matthews. I scored four goals in my first NHL game. Want to find out how many goals we can score tonight?” He finished with an impressive eyebrow wiggle.

Auston groaned in annoyance and turned back to the food he was about to cook. “No, actually. Unlike you I can get girls without telling them I’m semi-famous. Its a benefit of actually being attractive.”

It was Mitch’s turn to glare. He was plenty attractive.

Before he could argue his case Auston was continuing. “But you didn’t answer my question. Why are you asking me and not someone else?”

Mitch was silent. He had kinda hoped that Auston would just blindly agree to be his “date” without requiring an explanation. He guessed it was too much to hope for. “Well….the thing is…” Mitch trailed off into silence. Maybe he could still get out of this.

Auston turned around from food he was cooking, eggs it looked like, to stare at him. “Marns.” He said, actually serious for the first time this morning. “What did you do?”

“What makes you think I did anything?” Mitch replied voice rising toward the end, slightly panicked.

Auston’s serious face did not go away. Though a bit of his angry face now joined it. Mitch would have laughed at the expression he was making, if the conversation wasn't quite so serious.

“Mitch.” Was all Auston said, still staring at him.

Mitch broke.

“Fine! Ok. I fucked up. Alright? I fucked up. I didn’t want to date her anymore. We weren't getting along and I just didn’t like her you know?. I knew that I needed it end it. But I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I'm not good at awkward conversations. So, uh, I…” He drifted off into silence.

“You what?" Auston asked still serious, but not angry as much anymore.

“I might have…” Mitch stopped again, and studied the kitchen floor, staring at a chip that had fallen under part of the counter at some point.

He took a deep breath and said, all at once, “ImighthavetoldherIwasbisexualandneededtofigurestuffout.”

The only noise in the kitchen was Auston’s eggs cooking on the stove. Mitch flicked his eyes up to glance at Auston. He looked confused.

“Come again?”

Mitch swallowed hard, “I might have told her I was bisexual and needed to figure some stuff out.” He said slower this time. The words weren't any easier to get out.

Auston finally seemed to come back online, “Right.” He didn’t say anything else for a minute. He just turned back the eggs and turned off the stove. Mitch stood still, barefoot in Auston’s kitchen, the tiles cold under his feet, staring at Auston’s back. Neither of them said anything else.

“Grab two plates will ya?” Auston said, starling Mitch. He still hadn't turned back around.

“Uh…yah. Sure.” Mitch managed, turning around to pull two plates out of the cabinet behind him. He handed them over and watched Auston divide the eggs onto the two plates. When he was done he finally turned to Mitch and handed him a plate.

“Let’s sit down.” They grabbed forks on their way to the table and sat down across from each other. Usually when Mitch ate here they would eat at the counter or on the couch. The table was reserved for family gatherings and important events. Mitch figured that the fact that they were eating at the table couldn’t be a good sign.

They ate their eggs in silence for a few minutes, Auston didn’t seem eager to start a conversation, and Mitch certainly wasn't going to.

Finally, Auston spoke, “You are though right?”

Mitch looked up. That was not what he had been expecting. He wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting, but that certainly wasn't it.

“Are what?” He asked, not willing to give up any information he hadn't already.

Auston somehow managed to look exasperated. “Bi.”

Mitch glanced down at his half-eaten eggs. The half eaten eggs that Auston had made for him. Even after he had woken him up way too early and annoyed him with stupid questions. Even after Mitch told him he had broken up with his girlfriend because he was bisexual, Auston had still made him eggs.

Mitch looked up suddenly determined, “Yah. I am.”

Auston studied his face. Then he nodded as if reaching a decision. “I still don't get why I have to be your date.”

And that _definitely_ wasn't what Mitch expected him to say. “What?” He choked out surprised.

“If you told her you were bi, why couldn’t you show up with a random girl? Or a random guy? This really only broadens your options. I mean you could even ask the other guys on the team. What about Willy? He’d probably go along with it. It might—”

Mitch cut him off. “Wow. Wait. Slow down. What are you even talking about?” Mitch was so confused. He had just come out to his best friend and Auston had said nothing. It didn’t seem like he was mad, but Mitch had learned that you could never tell.

“Huh?” Auston asked, looking confused to be cut off. “I’m trying to help you solve your _emergency_.” He added some finger quotes around emergency which Mitch thought was unneeded.

“So you don’t…like care that I’m into guys too and not just girls?” Mitch asked carefully. Auston didn't seem like he did, but it didn’t hurt to check.

“Wait what?” Now Auston looked confused, and that wasn't what Mitch was aiming for. “Why would I care? Has something changed? ” He looked genuinely confused which only served to make Mitch more confused.

“Dude,” Mitch started and then paused for a second to collect his thoughts. “It’s just that usually when I come out to people, which doesn't happen too often, I get a bigger reaction. I mean not a negative one.” He hurried to say when Auston looked alarmed. “Just…more? If that makes sense. You didn’t seem to have any…” He trailed off.

Auston was staring at him consideringly. “I mean it’s not like I was surprised…”

Mitch's eyebrows come together. This wasn't helping his confusion.

Auston took that as his queue to continue, “You haven’t been exactly subtle about that fact that you like guys Mitch.”

“What!” Mitch exclaimed. Of course he had. Subtle was like his middle name. “How was I not subtle?”

Auston had a slightly uncomfortable look on his face. “Umm… after our last game, on the bus, you went on like a ten minute rant about how hot Liam Hemsworth’s ass was cause you saw him on a magazine. Before that, at practice the other day, you were whining to Marty about how the cute guy at Starbucks had flirted with you and it wasn't fair that you have practice and couldn’t stay to talk. And last week when we—”

“Okay! Okay. I get it.” Mitch grumbled. Now that he was thinking about it subtle might be more like a nickname. “I didn’t know I’d been that obvious.”

Auston grimaced, “I didn’t know you were trying to keep it a secret.”

Mitch suddenly had a slightly terrifying thought, “Do you think the rest of the team noticed?”

Auston fixed him with a stare. “Mitch you literally made out with a guy at the bar in front of us last season. I think the team knows.”

Mitch’s jaw dropped. He remembered that night. He had been a little tipsy but not drunk. It was right after he had broken up with his ex-girlfriend and a really cute guy who was apparently named Alex had approached him. Mitch had been at the bar getting a refill, so he hadn't really thought about the team sitting at their table, just figured they’d be busy talking while he tipsily leaned in to kiss Alex.

“You all saw that?”

Auston almost rolled his eyes. Mitch could see the physical effort it took for him to refrain. Our table was like ten feet away. It was hard not to see.”

And that was…yah. Honestly subtle wasn't even a nickname, who was he kidding.

“Oh.” Was all he managed.

“You really didn’t want any of us to know? We kinda figured that was you like coming out or something, and then you continued to hook up with girls and guys so we figured you just didn’t really have a preference or whatever.”

Mitch licked his lips. It wasn't like he didn't want the guys to know, or wouldn't have been fine coming out to them. It was just that he didn’t know he already had.

“Mitch? You ok?” Auston asked gently. “You know no one really cares right? Like none of the guys have a problem with it.”

“Yah, I uh…” He trailed off thinking about the whole situation before he suddenly started laughing.

He looked up at Auston still laughing his head off. Auston just looked worried.

“It’s…just…” Mitch broke off laughing again. “Sorry. I just realized that I’ve been out for like a year and I didn’t even realize. He finally managed to stop laughing, breathing hard.

Auston finally grinned at Mitch. “You’re an idiot.” He said and this time he did roll his eyes.

After they had both calmed down and finished their eggs they moved to sit on the couch.

“So what are we gonna do about my emergency?” Mitch asked with a smirk.

Auston outright laughed before saying, “I gave good suggestions, you just wont take them.” Mitch shot him a look. “I’m not doing on a fake date with a random person Matts. Certainly not a random guy. I might be ok with being out to the team but I’m not ready to be the first out NHL player.”

Auston nodded, “Makes sense. I wouldn't want that either. But what about another guy on the team? Why me?”

Mitch narrowed his eyes, “You’re not married or in a relationship.” He paused, “Also, you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I ask you?”

Auston’s mouth twitched and Mitch guessed he was trying not to smile.

To ease his worries Mitch added, “And you don’t have to worry about the press or anything. Its a small party which is why I don't want to go alone.”

“Yah, why are you going actually?” Auston asked, “Why didn’t you just say you were busy?”

Mitch shrugged, “I haven’t seen Allie, my ex’s friend, and mine I guess, in like a year and a half. She moved away for a job and has just now moved back. She’s the one who invited me and we were actually close. I don't know. I probably should have just said I was busy. But instead I said I was coming and asked if I could bring a date.”

“Once again, you're an idiot.”

“Believe me I know. But I can't change it now.”

“So when is the party?” Auston asked. Mitch lifted a hand to his mouth to hid his smirk.

“Next Friday.” He answered. “At 6.” Auston hummed.

Mitch suddenly stood up. “I’m gonna go over to Marty’s and tell him that I know that he knows that I’m not straight.”

Auston looked confused at the wording and at Mitch’s movement. “I thought we were going to think of a solution.”

“We already have a solution.” Mitch said as he stuffed his feet into his shoes and grabbed his coat.

“We do?” Auston called from the couch.

“Yep.” Mitch grinned as he opened the door. “I’ll pick you up at 5:30 on Friday.” He slipped out of the door and pulled it shut behind him, ignoring Auston’s undignified squawk from inside.

Mitch headed down the hallway and toward the elevator grinning to himself. If Auston actually didn’t want to go he’d text Mitch or tell him at practice. But Mitch was pretty sure he would come.

As he stepped on to the elevator and pushed the button for the garage his phone buzzed multiple times with texts. They were from Auston.

Mitch opened the messages before looking up and grinning happily at himself in the elevator mirror.

 

**From: Hit Em With The Four: 8:30AM**

**“** _You're an idiot._ **”**

**“** _Should I wear a Christmas Sweater?_ **”**


End file.
